December 4, 2020

In this episode, I speak with filmmaker and co-founder of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective, Set Hernandez Rongkilyo. In our conversation, we discuss their filmography the ways undocumented filmmakers are demanding authorship and agency in the telling of their stories. Because Set is a very proud Pilipino/Bicolano, this week’s song is Love, Anthony, & Maya’s “A Thousand More” from the album Rock the Mic for Human Rights in the Philippines: Stop the Killings.

[Image Description: Set is pictured from the neck up. They have a beard and wear glasses and a red shirt. The background is out of focus.]

[Image description: Undocumented Filmmakers Collectives logo. The words “Undocumented Filmmakers Collective” are superimposed on top of black letters over a black and gray graphic of an camera iris. The background is white.]

Photo Credit: Set Hernandez RongkilyoI

[Image Description: Emma laughs with her elderly client who is wearing knitted clothes and is leaning into her walker. Emma has short hair and wears scrubs. They are outdoors on a driveway.}

Set’s Bio

Set Hernandez Rongkilyo is an undocumented, immigrant filmmaker and community organizer whose roots come from Bicol, Philippines. They are the fruit of their parents' sacrifices, their siblings' resilience, and their community's nurturing. Set’s short films have been televised, featured, and awarded in film festivals across the U.S. As the Impact Videos Producer at the California Immigrant Policy Center, Set produced COVER/AGE (2019) about healthcare expansion for undocumented adults. Set also served as Impact Producer for PJ Raval’s Call Her Ganda which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Since 2010, Set has been organizing around migrant justice issues from education equity to deportation defense. They are the co-founder of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective which tackles the inequities that undocumented immigrants face in the media industry. They are a 2020 Disruptors Fellow, 2019 Docs in Action Fund Recipient, 2018 Firelight Impact Producer Fellow, 2017 Soros Justice Fellow, among others. They have spoken about people-centered filmmaking on panels across the country including at the Sundance Film Festival and Allied Media Conference.

About the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective

The Undocumented Filmmakers Collective started in 2018 as a series of video chats between undocufilmmakers in Los Angeles, CA, and Durham, NC. It was an opportunity to hold space for each other, in what often felt like distant and isolated journeys as filmmakers of color, navigating a very specific subset of challenges. From a group of five documentary-oriented filmmakers in two cities, the Collective is now comprised of at least 30 members working in a wide range of genres (e.g. animation, documentary, narrative, web series) in five states: California, Colorado, New York, Nevada, and North Carolina. Additionally, the Collective has not just brought together undocumented filmmakers but has also forged partnerships with key allies in the filmmaking industry.

In December 2019 on the eve of the International Documentary Association Awards, the Collective released a piece called, “An Open Letter from Undocumented Filmmakers to the Producers of Living Undocumented and the Broader Media Industry‚” that illustrated how a Netflix series’ exclusion of undocumented filmmakers is a symptom of larger issues in the media industry when it comes to telling the stories of undocumented immigrants. Having been now viewed over 5,000 times, the letter has served as a catalyst for mediamakers to bring undocumented creatives into their projects, and as an invitation for other undocumented media creators in this country to join the collective.

In January 2020, the Collective reached another milestone by presenting a historic panel at the Sundance Film Festival, only made possible because of the generous support of Firelight Media. Titled, “Undocumented and Unerasable: Reclaiming Undocumented Narratives and Storytelling,” the conversation led to a series of brainstorming to make the field more inclusive of undocumented creators. Currently, the Collective is in conversation with multiple film festivals and industry events in multiple cities to ensure our perspectives are included in these events to advance systemic changes within the field.

It must be noted however that the work of the Collective is nothing new. They stand on the shoulders of undocumented media justice organizers who have paved the way for our communities‚ “stories to be told by us and for us.” They look to the work of Tam Tran (Lost and Found) and the original UndocuMedia program created by Nancy Meza, Jesús Iñiguez, and Julio Salgado.

About COVER/AGE

The Affordable Care Act explicitly denies undocumented immigrants access to healthcare. While laws in California have now made healthcare available for undocumented young people, undocumented adults continue to be excluded. COVER/AGE follows an elderly caregiver and a policy advocate in the campaign to expand healthcare to include all people, regardless of immigration status or age.